How Fox Is Taking On Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live has ruled the Saturday night comedy airwaves for over four decades. Despite 14 years of competition from Mad TV, SNL just keeps on trucking. Well, a new late Saturday night comedy show is coming to town, and the idea sounds pretty cool.

FOX confirmed to us that their new late night, half hour sketch comedy show, called Party Over Here, will be debuting in March. The show is executive produced by the formerly SNL based comedy trio The Lonely Island, which is comprised of writer/performers Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Actor and comedian Paul Scheer of The League and Fresh Off the Boat, will also take on executive producer duties, along with acting as one of the show’s directors.

Aside from separating itself from SNL by sticking to a half hour format, the show will also only feature three main actress/comedians: Nicole Byer, Jessica McKenna and Alison Rich. They’ll perform in sketch comedy shorts and in studio sketches filmed in front of a live audience at downtown Los Angeles’ Alexandria Hotel.

Nicole Byer got her first credit in 2009 and has since appeared on 30 Rock, UCB Comedy Originals, College Humor Originals and Comedy Bang! Bang!. Byer is probably best known for Girl Code, the female driven MTV show filled with envelope pushing tips that educate viewers on the “wonders and woes of womanhood.”

Jessica McKenna is an improv comic who’s studied with The Groundlings and the Upright Citizens Brigade. She’s had roles in The Goldbergs, Hot Wives of Las Vegas and The Jeselnik Offensive. McKenna is also part of a musical comedy duo know as The Zach and The Jess.

The third member of the main cast of Party Over Here, Alison Rich, was a writer on SNL from 2014 through 2015. Her credits include Life In Pieces, Angie Tribeca and the HULU original Resident Advisors. Rich won the Best Actress Award from the NY Television Festival for her web series Incognito.

While all three are relative newcomers, the performers of The Lonely Island are not. The musically inclined comedians are Grammy nominated, and Emmy winners, who are responsible for the incredibly popular SNL Shorts collection which included “Dick In A Box,” “3-Way (The Golden Rule),” and “I Just Had Sex.”

With a team like the guys from The Lonely Island helping to shepherd Party Over Here, and the comedic pedigree of the performers who’ve been chosen for the show, the program has a good chance of setting itself apart from SNL and making itself known to the late night crowd, and comedy lovers everywhere. Much like their main competition in this arena, they plan on skewering every aspect of pop culture and American culture in general. And, with the focus on only three performers, it’ll be more likely that each one will be able to stand on their own and develop characters that can strike a chord with their audience.